Ranma's Travels
(A Ranma One Half / Multi crossover)
By Ammadeau
Roy.Fokker@UNSpacy.org
http://Ammadeau.tripod.com/fanfiction.htm

Prologue

[Note: This takes place in an alternate reality of Ranma 1/2, 
deviating sometime during the arrival of the Musk in Nerima.]

	Before going off to hunt down Herb, Ranma had decided 
that there was one thing he had to know.  Being permanently stuck 
as a girl had caused him to do a little thinking and he realized that 
there was a good chance that he wouldn't be able to get the 
unlocking kettle before Herb did.  It might even be years before he 
would find a cure.
	That was why he found Akane in the kitchen.  He was so 
caught up in his own thoughts that he didn't even realize that she 
was on the phone and hadn't noticed him enter.
	"Akane, I know we've had some problems and all, but 
we've gotten through them all right before.  This, I don't know, but 
it might be some time before I can ever be a man again.  I'm not 
really sure how you feel about my curse, but was wondering will 
you still be my fiancee if I'm stuck like this?"
	The next words Ranma heard cut through him like a knife.  
"What kind of pervert do you think I am?"  The only thing worse 
than the words was the tone that Akane used, a mixture of anger 
and disgust.
	It was all Ranma could do not to cry as he ran as fast and as 
far away from her as she could.
	Akane looked up from her phone call in surprise.  She 
couldn't believe that he friend Yuka had suggested that her hatred 
of Shampoo was really a front to cover the fact that she was 
attracted to the Chinese Amazon.  The very thought made her ill.

[Note:  From now on, Ranma will be referred to as a 'she' whenever 
he is in female form.]

	Ranma had won, defeating the Musk prince with a last 
burst of strength that she hadn't known that she had.  She did so 
well that Herb was dying from wounds too severe for anyone to 
heal.  The Chinese prince knew it though, and as a departing 
gesture destroyed the very thing Ranma had been fighting for, 
sealing within his girl body forever.
	"Now you will never be a man again," Herb had spat with 
his dying breath before her eyes lost the light of life.  Ranma ran 
from in despair, not wanting to face anyone.  She stumbled over a 
strange-looking bracelet that Herb had dropped during their fight 
and without even thinking about it, pocketed it.
	Sometime later, Ranma sat on a cliff top and contemplated 
her fate.  She wondered if the others were looking for her right 
now, unsure if she wanted to be found or not.  She remembered 
how she had asked Akane before she went to face Herb that would 
they still be fiancees if she were stuck as a girl.  "What kind of 
pervert do you think I am?" was her reply.  It was clear that there 
was one person who wouldn't miss her, but then she was only 
person that really mattered.  Her mother would see him as Ranko, 
her father would lament the loss of his heir, and Mr. Tendo would 
weep about how their lines would never be joined.  The other 
fiancees?  Well, they couldn't be hers anymore since she was pretty 
sure they'd feel the same way Akane had.  There was nothing left, 
not even her manhood.  The Art remained, but that was the very 
thing that had gotten her into this predicament.
	Ranma took out an old and ornate bracelet.  "What do you 
do I wonder?" Ranma spoke to the object, more to help herself 
think than it would actually respond.  "Not anything that can help 
me, I bet."
	It didn't matter.  Nothing mattered anymore.  She leaned 
over the edge of the cliff and allowed herself to fall, but she never 
hit bottom.

World 1: El Hazard

Note: This takes place after the first OAV series and overwrites the 
second.  It draws on ideas (and ignores others) from both the 
second OAV and second TV series.

	Miz stood before two of the three main obstacles to her 
future happiness, her fellow high priestesses, Afura Mann and 
Shayla-Shayla.  The third, the source of her impending bliss, had 
decided to climb a mountain someplace.
	Things had been quiet ever since the Bugrom Empire had 
been nearly wiped out by the Eye of God.  Rostaria was in the 
process of rebuilding and most demands on the high priestesses 
could be easily relegated to the many minor priestesses who lived 
and worked at Mt. Muldoon.
	Miz had decided that this was the perfect time to get 
hitched.  She had been surprised that it had only take three jugs of 
wine in order to convince Mr. Fujisawa to propose.  She saw this 
as undeniable proof that he was hopelessly smitten with her.  Her 
true difficulty had come from an unexpected direction.
	"It clearly states in the rules you agreed to follow," Afra 
Mann intoned, pointing out the relevant passage in the Priestess 
Handbook, "that no high priestess can take on any other duties 
during her term."
	"And that includes marriage," Shayla-Shayla added a little 
irritably.  They both had wanted to cancel this meeting so they 
could go to the palace.  Miz suspected that the fire high priestess 
was more eager to see Makoto again, than to follow the orders of 
Rune Venus.  Miz herself wasn't needed for whatever plan the first 
princess of Rostaria had, for which she was thankful.
	The whole problem had come up during the 'official' 
monthly meeting of the High Priestesses of Muldoon.  Living in 
the same place, even with their various duties that took them to all 
ends of El Hazard, they met quite frequently.  However, when she 
had become Wind high priestess, Afra Mann had suggested that 
they set one day each month aside for official business, especially 
those matters in which they didn't want the other priestesses that 
lived there to overhear.  Miz had presented her news expecting 
congratulations, and perhaps a touch of envy.  She didn't expect 
such vehement objections to her nuptials.
	"You're both so cruel!"  she complained.
	"Now Miz, all you have to do is train a replacement," the 
high wind priestess told her.  "Have her take over your duties and 
you'll be free to do whatever you want."
	"Because we are not going to cover for you," the high fire 
priestess added.
	"But I don't have a replacement!"
	Miz didn't think that it was fair that out of the few 
priestesses to choose Water, none had passed the final tests 
required to become a high priestess.  Afra Mann and Shayla-Shayla 
had people to take their place, but neither of them were interested 
in retiring.
	"Well, you better go find one soon if you plan on getting 
married before you become an old maid."
	Miz stomped off in anger.

	Sometime later, she was relaxing at the small onsen they 
had in Mt. Muldoon.  It wasn't nearly as nice as the one in the 
Desert of Bleached White Bones, or the one in the palace of 
Rostaria for that matter, but having used her rank to claim it all to 
herself, it was adequate to relax her current tension, somewhat at 
least.
	She'd already tried asking around the other priestesses of 
the temple for a replacement, even going as far as trying to lure 
away some priestesses of Wind and Fire, but when they heard what 
the job entailed or the final test, they all refused.  Most of them 
wouldn't have passed the tests anyway.  She wondered what had 
happened to the younger generation that none of them were willing 
to devote all of their time and risk their very lives for the 
priesthood.
	The worst thing of all was enduring the company of Houri, 
the last of her old friends that she had made in priestess school, and 
the only one beside herself who remained single.  Houri had 
recently become engaged and had a marriage to look forward to in 
a few short months.  She had tried to sound nice about it, but she 
was obviously taunting the high Water priestess with the fact that 
she would be the last of their group to be married.  It never 
occurred to Miz that Houri was acting much in the same way as 
Miz had when they had passed over Houri for the position of high 
Water priestess.  Miz so wanted to be married first so she could rub 
it in that old cow's face, but it looked like it was simply not meant 
to be.
	Miz tried tossing a coin and praying before one of the 
fountains for help, as she had seen her beloved do once.  What she 
needed was a replacement high water priestess.  Someone young, 
female, didn't mind a little hard work, wasn't afraid of danger, and 
had a natural affinity for water.  Now where in the world was she 
going to find someone like that?
	"Aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggghhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!" 
yelled a female voice somewhere above.  Before Miz could even 
look up, the fountain exploded all around her as something heavy 
landed in it.  Miz was prepared to get very angry at whoever caused 
her to become soaked to the bone, but was too surprised when she 
found a young girl lying unconscious in the fountain.

	Consciousness came back gradually to Ranma, as if she 
was pulling herself out of a tar pit.  Finally, when the world blurred 
into focus, she found that she was staring up a purple-haired 
woman that she had never seen before.  Everything else was still 
hazy and indistinct.
	"Am I dead?" Ranma asked softly, and then coughed up a 
little water.
	"No, you're not," Miz told her, "though you nearly were.  
What is you name?  Where did you come from?  There shouldn't 
be any airships in the area."
	Miz had assumed the young lady had fallen out of an 
airship that had somehow been knocked off course, but certainly 
one of the priestesses on duty would have noticed the ship and 
informed her.  Yet she had told them that she was not to be 
disturbed for all but the gravest of matters.  Either way, Miz had 
pulled the girl out of the fountain and had tried to make her as 
comfortable as she could until she regained consciousness.
	*My name, huh.  I can't tell her Ranma, since I'm stuck as a 
girl.  Explaining why I have a boy's name just wouldn't be worth 
the effort.  Besides, how can I be Ranma anymore when I'm never 
going to be a guy again?*
	"I'm Ranko, Ranko Saotome.  I sort of fell off a cliff."
	Miz looked all around her.  They were on the top of a 
mountain, there weren't any cliffs above them that she could have 
fallen from.  There were the rock monoliths and tops of high 
buildings from which she could have fallen, but Miz would have 
certainly seen her.  "Are you sure?"
	"Yeah, I'm pretty sure," Ranko said, getting up and working 
a few kinks out of her body.  "Guess I survived.  Nothing to do but 
try again.  From the top of one of those monoliths should be high 
enough."
	With a the grace and agility of a spider monkey, Ranko 
climbed up one of the monoliths as Miz watched on, stunned.
	"Wait!" Miz shouted at her.  "You can't do this!"  She 
would be able to save the girl if her powers were working, but the 
few seconds it would take to activate them could be the difference 
between life and death.
	"I don't care!" Ranko shouted back from near the top of the 
monolith.  "I've got nothing to live for!"
	And with that, Ranko leapt from her high perch.
	Immediately, she realized that something was wrong.  She 
wasn't falling.  She looked down to see Miz looking up at her 
wide-eyed.  There was nothing under her feet.  She should be 
falling to, if not death, than at least some severe pain.  Instead she 
was just standing there, as if the air were solid ground.
	"What the heck's going on?" Ranko shouted up at the sky in 
rage.  It seemed that some powerful force was conspiring against 
her.  She couldn't even commit suicide if she wanted to.
	"You must be from another world!" Miz shouted once the 
realization hit her.  It should have been obvious from the 
beginning:  the sudden arrival, the strange clothes, and even 
stranger abilities.
	"What?" asked Ranko, feeling that this didn't quite explain 
how she could walk on air.
	"When people come here from another world they gain 
strange powers.  The man I intend to marry gained incredible 
strength.  There's another who can see through illusions.  You must 
have gained the ability to fly!"
	"Then why didn't it work when I first came here?"
	"I don't know, maybe it takes time for the power to 
manifest.  I'm not an expert of such things.  If you want to know, 
you should talk to Dr. Schtalubaugh."
	"I'll just have to find some way else to die then!" Ranko 
shouted as she looked around.  What did it matter where she was?  
She had nothing left to live for.  She could try to drown in one of 
the onsens, but they weren't that deep and she didn't know if she 
could keep herself down long enough.
	"You can't die!" Miz shouted back.  "You're the answer to 
my prayers!"
	"What?" Ranko asked, confused.  The fact that this lady 
never seemed to make sense was starting to get on her nerves.
	"I prayed to have a replacement high water priestess and 
you came!  It's fate!  Please, you have to help me!"
	Ranko had no real desire to die, she just had nothing to live 
for.  "I don't know about this!" she shouted back, uncertainty clear 
in her voice.
	"Could you at least come down so we don't have to keep 
shouting?!" Miz said with some irritation.
	"I don't know how!"

	Through mostly trial and error, Ranko learned that she 
could control her flight be simply thinking of where she wanted to 
go and then she would glide there.  It also seemed that this ability 
to fly was temporarily shut off when her feet were firmly on the 
ground.  Actually, float would be a better term for this new power 
since her top speed in flying wasn't even as fast as she could run.
	As Ranko figured this all out, Miz gave her a hundred and 
one reasons that she should become the high Water priestess.  It 
wasn't surprising that most of them had to do with her planned 
marriage.  By the time Ranko reached the ground, her already 
shaky resolve had mostly faded.

	"All right, I'll do it," Ranko said finally.
	"Really?  You will?" Miz asked, sounding very excited.
	Ranko nodded once.  She had decided that this might just 
be the purpose that she was looking for.  If she couldn't find the 
happiness she wanted, then she could make others happy.  Being a 
high water priestess sounded like the sort of thing that would keep 
her so busy that she wouldn't have much time to reflect on the past.
	Ranko was really surprised when Miz embraced her tightly 
and babbled, "Oh thank you, thank you!"
	The pig-tailed girl pried herself out of the grip of the 
ecstatic priestess and said, "But I want to meet these people from 
another world first.  They might be able to tell me how I wound up 
here, not that I have anything to go home to.  And that doctor you 
mentioned, he might help me get better control of my flying."
	"Very well, I will take you to Rostaria," Miz replied.  There 
didn't seem to be much risk in that since her new apprentice didn't 
seem too keen on going home.  "But only if you undergo the trials 
to see if you can become the high water priestess first."
	"Trials?"
	"Three tests to prove you have what it takes.  Don't worry, 
I'm sure that you'll have no trouble with them."  Or at least the first 
two, Miz thought to herself.

	Little did either them know that Houri had observed all this 
from her hiding place up in a tree.  She was one of the water 
priestesses that didn't actually live at Mt. Muldoon, but at one of 
the posts scattered throughout El Hazard.  She had taken such a 
post just to get away from Miz, not knowing that part of her duties 
would mean frequently visiting Mt. Muldoon.
	Her delicate face frowned as the two began speaking in a 
normal tone of voice so she could no longer overhear them.  Houri 
was quite the beauty, easily the best looking of her friends with her 
soft, pale skin, green eyes, and long black hair.  Of course, she had 
chosen this appearance for that very reason.  Though she thought 
her natural blue skin was much prettier, humans tended to hate or 
fear members of the Phantom Tribe, so a disguise was needed to 
live among them.   She could have used her power of illusion to 
move closer to the pair, but she had known for some time that Miz 
could somehow sense whenever she was near, even when she was 
disguised as someone else.
	Houri no longer considered herself a member of that 
backward, male-dominated society who spent all their time either 
moaning injustices inflicted on their ancestors or plotting revenge 
against the descendants of the wrong-doers.  *What's done is 
done,* Houri thought.  *Since we're stuck her on El Hazard 
forever, we might as well enjoy it.*  She didn't even know what 
was supposed to be so great about their original home planet 
anyway.  She had never seen it, she had been born right on El 
Hazard.  Personal revenge, however, she understood all too well, as 
she contemplated the many wrongs that Miz had made against her.
	Miz.  The very name was enough to drive Houri into a rage.  
They had known each other since they were teenagers and while on 
the surface they had always been polite to each other, underneath 
there was a deep-seated rivalry.  At school, among their friends, the 
local festivals; each one was an occasion to prove which of them 
was the best.  They had come out about equal, with perhaps Houri 
a little ahead to due her illusions, when Miz suddenly declared her 
interest in becoming the high priestess.
	Houri didn't care at all about being high priestess; to her the 
powers one was given weren't worth the responsibilities, but since 
this would prove Miz was better, she was forced to compete.  And 
compete she did, harder than she ever had for anything before, but 
in the end Miz had still won.  Even if the Houri had been the type 
to forgive, she would have never, ever forgiven Miz for that.
	Now it had come down to the final contest, marriage.  
Houri could have been married some time ago, with her looks and 
charm there were no end of offers.  She'd yet to find a human that 
met up to her standards.  Despite what she had told Miz, she still 
hadn't, but was sure she could find someone suitable before the 
date she had set.  It would be easy for her to dispose of him when 
he no longer served any purpose.
	She had also been sure that the few little suggestions she 
had made to her fellow priestesses would have kept Miz tangled up 
for at least a year, but from the sound of things she had just found 
her replacement.  If Miz was able to rush this girl through training 
she would be able to be married right away and Houri would suffer 
a final, humiliating defeat.  All of their friends would be kind to 
her, giving her enough pity to make her sick, all the while laughing 
at her behind her back.  Houri could not let that happen.

	"Keep digging!" Katsuhito Jinnai shouted to encourage his 
loyal workers, the bugrom which he had renamed after the Marx 
brothers.  Sure, they'd been given to him by Queen Diva, but he 
really thought of them as his now.  Hadn't he earned them with all 
of his wonderful plans and mighty conquests?  If Ifurita hadn't 
turned against him in the end, he would be ruler over all of El-
Hazard.  People would worship him as a god.
	"Damn you, Makoto!" he shouted the Most Hated Name in 
frustration, belonging to his life-long rival, who seemed to get a 
perverse joy in making Jinnai's life hell.
	"It was he who was going to impeach me, it was he who 
brought me to this god-forsaken land, and it was he who had turned 
the lovely agent of destruction against the rightful ruler of El-
Hazard!"
	And that was why Jinnai was down in the ruins under 
Queen Diva's palace, searching through them for the remote 
possibility of finding another ultimate weapon, one that would put 
the world in his grasp again.  Thankfully, the ruins hadn't been 
further damaged when the Eye of God had laid waste to the 
Bugrom Empire.  They had all been searching for over a week 
now, but he was sure that there was something down there.
	"What are you doing, Mr. Jinnai?"  rang out an imperious 
female voice from above, her supreme majesty Queen Diva, ruler 
over what was left of the once omnipotent Bugrom Empire.  
Actually, their forces were building back up rather quickly, a secret 
they were sure to keep from outsiders.  She had already made plans 
to take back what they had once gained in the recent war.
	"This city is from the same era as Ifurita and the Eye of 
God, right?"
	The purple-haired queen simply nodded.
	"So what if they had some secret weapon too, only Ifurita 
had attacked before they could use it?  Some ultimate weapon that 
might even be better than the Eye of God could be lying around 
here someplace, all we have to do is find it."
	"We have searched through this city many times before and 
found nothing of that nature."
	"Yeah, but then you didn't have old Jinnai here to help 
you,"  he replied with a smile.
	Their conversation was interrupted by the excited chittering 
of the Bugrom Jinnai had renamed Zeppo.
	"What?  You've found something?  Quick, let me see!"
	The bugrom brought him to a door where Queen Diva 
joined them.  At first Jinnai didn't see what all the excitement was 
about.  It was a door, so what?  There were thousands of doors in 
these ruins.  He had opened many of them himself and found 
nothing.  But then he saw something on it, a carved symbol that 
stirred some memory inside him.  He cleared away the dust and 
gasped.
	"What?" asked Queen Diva.  "What is it?"
	Jinnai had only seen the eye symbol three places before.  At 
the ruins under the school, at the cave of the Demon God, and also 
on the Eye of God.  He could feel it in his bones that this was what 
he had spent days searching for.
	"Quick!  Open it!" he shouted to his servants, rubbing his 
hands together in glee.  "Makoto," he thought out loud, "today your 
time of reckoning is at hand!"
	The bugrom shrugged and spoke a little.
	"What do you mean you can't open it?"  Jinnai roared.  
"Find a way!"
	"Allow me, Mr. Jinnai," Queen Diva said as she strode up 
to the door, placing her hand atop the carved eye symbol.  The door 
opened slowly.
	"How did you do that?" Jinnai asked her in surprise.
	Diva smiled and said, "We all have our little secrets, Mr. 
Jinnai."
	Queen Diva entered the darkened doorway, Jinnai and his 
bugrom assistants followed close behind.
	There was a large vaulted chamber beyond.  It was filled 
with all sorts of strange instruments, but what drew the eyes of 
everyone was the table in the center of the room, on which lay a 
Demon God.

	"So what are these three trials anyway?" Ranko asked 
impatiently as Miz was searching her room, collecting items here 
and there for no obvious purpose.  She noticed that most of them 
were clothes like Miz was already wearing.  *Were they going on a 
trip to some training ground?*  Ranko realized that for once she 
didn't have to worry about packing, since she was wearing all she 
had.
	"First, you have to wear this," Miz told her as she thrust the 
clothes she had collected into Ranko's hands.  "They're some of my 
old things, so they should be able to fit you, more or less."
	"What?"  Ranko thrust the clothes right back at her.  "No 
way I'm wearing these girly clothes!"
	"Then you have failed the first trial already."  Miz's voice 
was filled with a passable imitation of disappointment.  Ranko 
failed to notice her ruse.
	"Huh?"
	"The first thing a water priestess must do is look like one.  
How else are people going to able to know who to turn to in times 
of danger?  You can't very well do that unless you dress the part."  
	While Miz knew that there was no uniform per se, she 
didn't want her replacement to be seen in a simple shirt and pants.  
Afra Mann may allow her by the way Ranko looked now, but Miz 
wasn't going to leave anything to chance when her future happiness 
was at stake.  It just wouldn't do for her replacement to dress like a 
boy.
	Ranko gently picked through the clothes as if afraid to 
touch them, a grimace frozen on her face.  These 'things' seemed 
even worse than she had first suspected.  Practically transparent 
pants and a top meant to hug her chest.  Ranko absently noted that  
these being Miz's things, the top was going to be really tight on her.
	"Are you sure that I can't have something less, you know . . 
. feminine to wear?"
	Miz looked at Ranko oddly.  She was dressed strange, but 
the water priestess had first dismissed it as proper fashion for the 
world the girl was originally from.  Did not Nanami dress in a 
similar way? Now, however, she did notice how much more the 
clothes resembled Makoto's wardrobe, though a bit more flashy in 
color.  But this was clearly a girl.  Something was wrong here, but 
Miz couldn't figure out what.
	"Will you give in so easily, just over what raiment you have 
to don?"  Miz asked formally.
	"Huh?"  Ranko said, confused by both the question and the 
manner in which it was asked.
	Miz decided to try a different tactic.  "Does your word 
mean so little that you would break it so quickly?"
	Ranko suffered a bit on that one.  She had given her word 
and her honor was about all she had managed to preserve so far.  If 
she lost that, she really would have nothing.  She hung her head 
and replied, "No."
	"Good!  Then you'll try on the clothes?"  Miz asked with 
excitement.  *Maybe this will work out after all!*
	Ranko nodded, but added as she walked away to get 
changed, "But there's no way in hell I'm wearing any panties!"
	Miz wondered what that was about.  She certainly didn't 
give the girl any of her panties to wear.  She thought she would 
have her own.  *Ranko is certainly a strange girl, but then it does 
take a particular sort to be a high priestess of Mt. Muldoon.*
	In the room Miz had given her, right next to her own, 
Ranko looked over the various items of clothing as if they were 
covered in some horrible slime.  For her, it might have been better 
if they were, then she wouldn't note how much this new outfit 
would show off her figure.  Ranko never had much in the way of 
feminine modesty before, but just thinking of her female form was 
enough to bring home how she could never become a man again.  
It hurt to think of how much she had lost, not just her manhood, 
but her family, friends, and the only home she had truly known.  
Ranko shook her head to clear it of her depression and quickly 
changed into the clothes Miz had given her to try to distract herself 
from such morbid thoughts.  She had given her word and was 
determined to see this out to the end.
	Ranko came back some time later in an outfit that was 
identical to the one Miz wore.  Her face was as red as her hair 
though, and her hands were balled into fists.  Clearly, she wasn't at 
all happy about her new clothes, but either Miz didn't notice or 
chose not to.
	"Okay, so what's the next trial?" Ranko asked through 
clenched teeth.  This one was bad enough, she just wanted to get 
this over with.  She liked baggy pants since they gave her freedom 
of movement, but these were way too baggy, and the top was so 
tight that she almost had trouble breathing.  One thing was for sure, 
she was taking this stupid outfit off as soon as the trials were over.
	"Oh, no no no.  You haven't completed the first trial yet.  
Not only must you look like a water priestess, but you must act like 
one also.  I think that we should do something about your hair as 
well."
	"No way!  I like my hair the way it is!"
	"Fine, the hair isn't such a big deal anyway," Miz said, but 
inwardly she was disappointed.  A pig-tail was just so plain, too 
plain for such bright red hair.  It should be styled similar to what 
she wore, since she obviously had great fashion sense.  "We'll have 
to start your instruction on proper behavior right away though.  I 
can tell that we've got a lot of work to do."

	So began some of the worst training Ranko had ever gone 
through since the neko-ken, and even that was debatable.  And she 
wasn't learning any martial arts!  Just stupid girly stuff that Ranko 
loathed because it brought her closer to her second greatest fear, 
that of becoming a girl, in both mind and body.  But what did she 
really have to lose?  Even if she could somehow find a way back 
home, there still wasn't a cure for her curse.  Akane would still hate 
her and her mom wouldn't even recognize her.
	"No, no!"  Miz shouted, half anger, half exasperation.  
"You're still walking like a guy!  You're already so graceful, this 
should be easy!  Good, now swing your hips more."
	Ranko tried to walk as Miz was instructing her to, keeping 
a smile plastered to her face so not to show how much she loathed 
doing this.  Any hint of sadness or anger and Miz would bring up 
that she had swore to do this on her honor.  That was one thing that 
Ranko did not wanted to be constantly reminded of.  Could 
agreeing to this fiasco be her all-time stupidest move?  Maybe not, 
but it was up there.  The smile, however, was getting progressively 
harder to keep the longer the training went on.
	Miz wasn't having such a fun time herself.  To teach Ranko 
any proper behavior was an uphill battle.  Not only didn't the girl 
know anything about being a woman, she was incredibly resistant 
to adopting a feminine ideal.  Miz had to use Ranko's honor as a 
bludgeon to get the girl to do anything.  The water priestess was 
starting to believe that she had taken on more that she could handle 
here.  Worst of all was trying to explain some things to Ranko, 
who could be incredibly dense sometimes.
	Crash!
	"Damn, I can't believe you broke another of my dishes!  
Maybe I should have used a book to balance on your head instead."
	Unknown to either of them, Houri peeked through a 
window and snickered.  It didn't look like she would have to 
interfere after all.  At this rate, Miz would be eighty before this 
Ranko girl would be fit to be a water priestess, much less high 
priestess.

	"What's wrong dear?" Miz asked when Ranko had gotten 
particularly angry at her latest suggestion, dropping to a whisper.  
"Is it that time of the month?"
	"Time of the month for what?" Ranko asked, confused.  
She just didn't want to go to the onsen to bathe with all those girls 
there.  Even if she couldn't change now, it would still be too 
embarrassing.  Besides, she'd feel too much like Happosai trying to 
peep on them.
	"You know what I mean."
	"No, I don't."
	Miz decided to be blunt, which was the only way Ranko 
ever got things anyway.  "Are you having your period?"
	"My what?"
	"Surely a girl as old as you has already had her first period," 
the water priestess asked incredulously.
	Ranko was starting to get annoyed with her confusing line 
of questioning.  "Lady, the only first period I know about is the one 
I had at school."
	"So you do know what I'm talking about!"  Miz was always 
delighted when something had finally gotten through to her pupil, 
probably because it usually took a lot of effort.
	"Huh?"
	"You just said that you had your first period while at 
school.  That must have been tough on you dear."
	Miz patted the shorter girl's shoulder in sympathy.  "Don't 
worry about it.  You can take your baths in my private furo until 
you're ready to go to the onsen with the others."
	Ranko was still confused about what Miz had been talking 
about, but she wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth.  Now 
she just had to make sure he got to take her baths alone.  The last 
thing she wanted to deal with was Miz in the furo with her.

	Miz was having such a hard time preparing Ranko for the 
first trial, that she decided to get started on the second right away, 
because at this rate she really would be an old maid before she 
could get married.
	"Now Ranko, to speed up your education I've decided to 
start training you for the second trail."
	"Great!  What is it?"  It just had to be better than all this 
girly stuff.  All of these rules of behavior were so tedious and 
stupid!  She felt like an idiot trying to act more like a girl.
	"Here," Miz said, handing the redhead a book which was 
the size of a somewhat abridged dictionary.  "That's your copy of 
the Priestess Handbook.  I want you to know it as soon as 
possible."
	"What?"
	"The second trial of a new priestess is knowledge of the 
rules one must follow.  You read this tonight instead of training 
and I'll quiz you on the first chapter tomorrow."
	Ranko glanced back and forth between Miz and the book 
that she had just handed her, her expression filled with disbelief.  
*She wants me to do schoolwork?  This water priestess thing is 
looking worse every day.*

	True to her word, Miz quizzed Ranko early the next day.  
Ranko managed to get two answers, out of twenty, right, and one 
was obviously a lucky guess.  The pig-tailed girl thought she heard 
the sound of faint, mocking laughter, but dismissed it as her 
imagination.
	"Did you actually read the handbook I gave you?" Miz 
asked her student with some irritation.  She had found herself in a 
near constant state of irritation lately, all due to her reluctant pupil
	"I did really, I just don't remember any of it," Ranko 
answered with a reassuring smile.  In reality, she had only flipped 
through part of it, got extremely bored, put it off to do later, and 
never got back to it.  It was a thick book, all written in small-print 
kanji and with absolutely no pictures.  How the heck was she 
supposed to remember it all?
	Miz looked at Ranko right in the eye, as if she could tell all 
of the boy-turned-girl's deepest, darkest secrets that way.  "Well, if 
you had read the introduction you would know that you only have 
to memorize the essentials, which are all in the first chapter of the 
book.  The rest of it is elaboration on these and the many esoteric 
rules that are used so infrequently that no one expects you to know 
them by heart anyway.  I also believe that the last chapter is the 
history of the priestesses of Mt. Muldoon, but I never got that far 
myself."
	"You mean I only got to read the first chapter?"  Ranko 
asked, starting to get irritated herself.  "Why didn't you tell me that 
before?!"
	"As I said, I didn't tell you because it says so in the 
introduction,"  Miz replied with a definite edge to her voice.
	"Oh, I must have missed that part."
	"It's the first line in the book!"  Miz massaged her forehead 
to stop the headache she felt coming on.
	Ranko noticed that her new sensei was near the boiling 
point and decided that a change of subject was in order.  If Miz 
rejected her as her pupil, then Ranko would be left without purpose 
or a place to live.  Besides, this was a challenge, and Ranko had 
never backed down from one before, no matter what the actual 
challenge was.
	Then it could be that she was lonely, and having never 
known her real mother, now never would know her, had taken Miz 
as a sort of substitute.  That could explain some of the reason why 
Ranko felt so guilty when she got her sensei mad.  This thought 
never occurred to the pig-tailed girl, however.
	"So what's the third trial going to be anyway?  When am I 
going to start training for that?"
	Miz suddenly looked uncomfortable.  She sprang up out of 
her seat and began to pour herself a cup of tea, facing away from 
Ranko.  "Third trial?  Don't worry about that now, you still have to 
train for the first two."
	"But what is it?"
	Miz didn't reply right away.  Instead, she finished pouring 
her cup of tea, and returned to sit by the table, setting the cup down 
before her.  She even took a slow sip before she spoke.
	"Well, it's a test in mastering the power of a high water 
priestess, which is significantly greater than that of a water 
priestess.  There's no real way that you can train for it, so you 
should just put it out of your mind for now and concentrate on the 
others.  I'm sure you'll do fine anyway."

	"Dammit!" Jinnai swore in frustration.  "Why won't any of 
this work?"
	"What is the problem, Mr. Jinnai?" Queen Diva asked, 
having just arrived from overseeing her growing army.  It had been 
several days since they had discovered the lab and Jinnai had been 
busy there trying to figure out how to awaken the demon god 
which they had discovered.  This one looked almost exactly like 
Ifurita, except her hair was black instead of silver and she was 
dressed differently as well.  However, she lacked a key and he had 
found no other way to wind her up.
	"Oh Diva, it's you," Jinnai said as he turned to face her.  
She was surprised by the sight of him.  His usual immaculate 
appearance was smudged with what looked like smoke and his hair 
was all in disarray.  It looked like he hadn't slept recently and she'd 
been told that he was barely eating.  She was somewhat concerned 
about the current state of her star general.  It was a feeling that she 
wasn't used to and wasn't sure what to make of it.
	"I've tried everything in this lab to try and activate the 
demon god, but nothing works.  It doesn't help that all the 
instructions are in a language I can't read.  Can you understand 
this?"
	Jinnai gestured to the odd-looking runes that covered many 
surfaces.
	"I'm afraid not.  I've tried reading their language before, but 
it is beyond my abilities.  I only moved here after the city had 
already been destroyed."
	Jinnai nodded and thought for a few moments before 
saying, "Wait, you opened the door to this place.  Maybe you can 
turn on the demon god the same way."
	Queen Diva shrugged her shoulders and then placed her 
hand on the demon god's forehead.  As she had expected, nothing 
happened.
	"How the heck I'm I going to figure this out?" Jinnai 
shouted in frustration.
	"I have heard of a Dr. Schtalubaugh who is an expert on 
ancient devices.  Perhaps he could figure out how to activate her.  
He should at least be able to read the ancient text."
	"Why didn't you say that sooner?"
	Queen Diva shrugged her shoulders.  "It only just occurred 
to me."
	"All right, so we go and kidnap this doctor, forcing him to 
figure out how to activate this demon god.  Where does the old guy 
live anyway?"
	"In the palace of Rostaria, unfortunately."
	"Hmm, not easy but not impossible either, at least for me.  
Makoto is liable to interfere, just like he did with Ifurita . . . Wait, I 
just had a brainstorm!  Makoto has some strange power over 
ancient machines, that's how he was able to turn Ifurita against us.  
Wouldn't be ironic if we kidnap him instead and force him to use 
that very same power to activate our demon god?"
	"But Mr. Jinnai, what's to stop him from turning this demon 
god against us, just like what he did with Ifurita?"
	"It's simple, we just kill him before he has the chance."
	Diva favored him with a warm smile.  "What a perfectly 
delicious plan, Mr. Jinnai."
	"Yes, soon we will rule over all of El-Hazard.  
Hahahahaha!"

	Afrua-Mann and Shayla-Shayla were more than a little 
surprised that when they finally returned from the palace, Miz 
presented them with the soon-to-be new high priestess of water.
	Miz met them at the landing platform when they had flown 
in, Ranko held out before her like showing off a new pet.  "Fellow 
priestesses," she told them somewhat formally, though her voice 
was filled with glee.  "This is the new water high priestess, Ranko.  
Say hello to your fellow priestesses, Ranko.  You're going to be 
working with them quite soon."
	"Um, hi," Ranko told them with a little way, feeling very 
embarrassed.  It wasn't the uniform, mostly, she had gotten 
somewhat used to it during the unrelenting training Miz had given 
her in becoming a lady.  It was more the way Miz was holding her 
like a child meeting her aunts for the first time.
	"Isn't she darling?" Miz told the two bewildered priestesses, 
rubbing her cheek against Ranko's.  "I've been hard at work this 
past week training her so I know that she'll be just perfect for the 
job.  Now that you're both here, we can give her the trials."
	Ranko remembered that Miz had a different opinion just a 
few hours ago, but thought it best not to say anything.  Her new 
sensei had a temper that rivaled Akane's.
	"Yeah, she's just great," Afrua-Mann replied slowly, with a 
definite lack of enthusiasm in her voice.  Thankfully, Miz was too 
hyped-up to notice.
	"Look, we'd love to give her the trial right now," Shayla-
Shayla told Miz as she dragged Afrua-Mann back in the temple.  
"But we've been traveling for a while and have just got to get 
something to eat.  Why don't you give your student some last 
minute training and we'll talk over this trial business after lunch, 
okay?"
	"Oh, that is a wonderful idea!" Miz enthused.  "Ranko and I 
can join you."
	"No!" Shayla-Shayla shouted back immediately.  "You 
should use that time... to make sure your student has everything 
down pat again.  The trials can be pretty tough, you know."
	"True.  Come along, Ranko.  Let's have a quick review 
while the other priestesses enjoy their lunch.  By this time 
tomorrow, you'll be an official apprentice water priestess!"
	Once she was finally gone, Afrua-Mann and Shayla-Shayla 
breathed a sign of relief.

	The high priestesses of fire and air discussed the problem 
over lunch, which they ate with vigor in one of Shayla's personal 
rooms, which most priestesses knew to keep away from lest they 
test the fire priestess' temper.
	"What are we going to do now?" Shayla-Shayla asked after 
shoving a hunk of meat in her mouth and swallowing.
	Afrua-Mann showed a bit more restraint, though she was 
nearly starving herself.  "I think you're overreacting, Shayla.  I do 
admit that Miz finding a replacement so soon was a bit of surprise, 
but that doesn't really interfere with Rune Venus' plans, now does 
it?  Besides, this Ranko might not even pass the three trials."
	Shayla-Shayla frowned.  "I think Fatora is the one who 
came up with this, or maybe Nanami.  Rune just isn't this sneaky.  
Besides, if this Ranko girl does pass the trials, what then?  It's 
going to take at least another week for all the preparations that 
Rune has planned.  I'm kind of surprised the lengths that she's 
going to.  Almost like she was the one who was getting married."
	"Shhh!" Afrua-Mann hushed her fellow priestess.  "If word 
of this gets back to Miz, then Rune will be very disappointed.  Miz 
has been the high priestess of water for so long that she wanted to 
give  her something back for her years of loyal service.  She'd 
probably do the same thing for one of us."
	"I don't plan to stay high priestess for that long," Shayla-
Shayla replied immediately.  "That still doesn't explain how we can 
keep her delayed for another week if Ranko passes the three trials."
	Afrua-Mann took a slow sip of her wine.  "Let's just give 
her the trails first, and worry about that if she passes them."

	The two high priestesses of air and fire weren't the only 
ones concerned over Ranko. Houri frowned from a hidden location 
as she watched Miz and her student practice.  The redhead was 
nothing short of amazing.  She had gone from a rough tomboy to a 
refined woman in only a week.  There was the fact that Miz had 
pushed her constantly, training until Ranko dropped.  And there 
were also a few rough edges still to the girl, but certainly not 
enough to make her lose the trials.  Even still, Houri had never 
seen anyone able to learn so fast.
	She cursed the fact that her duties had taken her away from 
Mt. Muldoon so she couldn't interfere with the week's training.  
She had thought at the time that a week wouldn't make any 
difference with this girl.  She was angry with herself for having 
underestimated her opponents.
	Houri could think of no direct way that she could interfere 
with the trials, not one that wouldn't give her away at least.  There 
was still the possibility that this girl would fail in one of the trials 
on her own, especially the third, but Houri was not willing to rely 
on chance in this.  She had to do something.

	Ranko sighed as she relaxed in the bath, alone for once 
thankfully.  Miz had told her to relax while she and the other high 
priestesses made ready for the trials, whatever they were going to 
be.  Ranko was still a little vague on what Miz wanted from her, 
but she had trained as hard as she could, even though most of the 
training was, ugh, girly stuff.
	"Help, me please! Someone help me!" a young female 
voice yelled out.
	Ranko was up and running, slipping back into her clothes 
while still on the move.  The cries eventually led her to where one 
of the younger priestesses had somehow slipped from the mountain 
and was no holding onto a root for dear life.  Ranko was about to 
go back and get some more help when she saw the root start to 
tear.
	"Everything is going to be all right," Ranko told the girl as 
she very slowly edged down to her.  "Whatever you do, don't 
move."
	The girl nodded fearfully.
	After a few tense moments, Ranko finally reached the girl, 
wrapping one arm around her just as the root finally broke.  She 
blinked when both the girl and the root suddenly vanished, the 
sudden weight imbalance sending her tumbling from the 
mountainside.
	Somewhere above her, a smile formed on invisible lips.

	"Argh!" Ranko screamed as she fell, closing her eyes so she 
wouldn't have to see the ground hurrying up to meet her.  She 
stayed like that for a few minutes, feeling the wind rushing around 
her, when she realized that she should have hit bottom already.
	Cautiously, Ranko opened her eyes.  She expected to see 
the ground right before her eyes as she plowed into it, but instead 
the ground was still lost in the mist below her and didn't seem to be 
getting any closer.  She looked up to see that she wasn't very far 
from where she had fallen originally.
	Ranko sat cross-legged on air and scratched her head in 
thought.  Then she smacked her palms together when she 
remembered the first time she had met Miz.  She had tried to 
commit suicide, but suddenly had gained the power to fly for some 
reason. Having not used the power since, she had completely 
forgotten about it.  Miz had said it was because she had come from 
another world, but Ranko felt that there was a bit more to it than 
that.  Whatever the case, it was certainly useful thing for someone 
to have who lived on top of a mountain.
	Thinking on suddenly vanishing girls, Ranko awkwardly 
made her way back to the top of the mountain.

	"Ranko!  Ranko!" Miz shouted as she looked around the 
temple for any sign of her student.  She was starting to feel 
worried.  In the bath there were signs of a hasty departure and none 
of the other priestesses had seen Ranko.  She could have gotten a 
case of cold feet as Shayla-Shayla had suggested, but Miz didn't 
think that Ranko was that kind of girl.  She seemed so determined 
to do this.
	Afrua-Mann wondered, as she flew around Mt. Muldoon, 
how she had been roped into searching for this lost student of 
Miz's.  Girl probably had decided on getting in some last-minute 
practicing rather than taking it easy.  It's what she would have 
done.
	Sighing, Afrua decided on making just one more pass of the 
lower reaches before giving up.  She was surprised to see a familiar 
redhead, though shocked to find that instead of climbing the 
mountain, Ranko was floating beside it.  She looked to be trying to 
swim up.  Afrua might have laughed at the sight, if it wasn't so 
strange.  Instead, she flew right up to the struggling girl.
	
	"Hello there.  Having some trouble?"
	Ranko was startled to turn around to find Afrua-Mann's 
face only inches from hers, mainly do to the ground being many 
miles beneath their feet.
	"Yeah, a little," Ranko admitted, embarrassed.  She had 
figured out how to fly a bit when this power had first revealed 
itself.  Unfortunately, she had forgotten how.
	"Don't struggle with it," Afrua-Mann instructed.  "It's all 
mental.  Just think of where you want to go and you'll fly there."
	Ranko tried this and was surprised at how easy she was 
able to float around the high priestess of air.  "This isn't too hard."
	Afrua-Mann nodded.  "Just have to be careful of air 
currents and never lose your concentration."
	"Woah!" Ranko exclaimed as she hit an air pocket and 
started to fly out of control.  She would have smacked into the side 
of the mountain if Afrua-Mann hadn't caught her.
	"I still think I need some practice," Ranko admitted.
	"I guess so," Afrua agreed as she helped Ranko to fly on her 
own once again.  "How are you able to fly anyway?  You're not 
carrying a lamp of air."
	"Miz says that I gained this power because I came here 
from another world."
	Afrua-Mann blinked in surprise.  "You're from another 
world, like Makoto and Nanami?  Miz didn't mention that.  How 
did you get here?"
	Ranko shrugged.  "Not sure.  Might have something to do 
with this bracelet I found on the world I'm from," she explained, 
pointing to the bracelet she wore on her upper arm.  "Can't seem to 
take the damn thing off."
	Afrua-Mann floated closer to study the bracelet intently.  
"I've seen this design before somewhere.  I'm almost certain that it's 
an ancient device of El Hazard, though Dr. Staugouhbough would 
know for certain."
	"Yeah, Miz told me about him and the others.  I want to 
meet them, but I promised Miz I'd undergo the trials first."
	"Miz must mean a lot to you if you're willing to go through 
all this for her," Afrua asked suddenly.
	After a moment, Ranko shrugged and said, "Yeah, I guess 
she does."  Miz had treated her kindly ever since she first arrived.  
Maybe at first it was all due to an ulterior motive, but the high 
water priestess had gone out of her way to make Ranko feel 
comfortable and wanted.  Most of all, she had given Ranko a 
purpose.  She almost felt that Miz was like the mother she never 
knew, or rather never got to know.
	With a smile, Afrua-Mann threw a friendly arm around 
Ranko and whispered to her, "Well, then you can help us with 
something.  You see, Miz..."

	Ranko was nearly crushed by the hug she received from 
Miz when she had finally returned.  "Where have you been?  I was 
so worried!"
	Ranko blushed a little at Miz's display of emotion, or that 
could have been due to her hug cutting off the redhead's air supply.  
Either way, she managed to disengage herself from the water 
priestess and explained, "Well, I was taking a bath and relaxing 
just like you wanted me to, when I heard someone cry for help.  I 
rushed outside to find a girl who had fallen off the mountain and 
now was only holding on by a root.  I managed to lower myself 
down to her, but when I put my arm around her, she vanished.  And 
I fell."
	"But you have the power to fly," Miz pointed out.
	Ranko rubbed her head in embarrassment.  "I sort of forgot 
about that, actually.  Good thing that it seems to kick in 
automatically or I'd be in trouble."
	"You would have been dead, Ranko," Miz pointed out with 
a stern expression.  "You need to learn to take such situations more 
seriously.  Still, that doesn't explain what took you so long."
	"I'm afraid that's my fault, Miz," Afrua Mann answered 
quickly.  "I saw Ranko struggling to fly and decided to give her a 
few lessons right on the spot.  I'm sure Ranko didn't mean to make 
you worry."
	Miz was silent for a few moments.  "I suppose it's all right 
this time.  The experience might even make you more prepared for 
the trials, but don't you dare do something like this again without 
letting me know somehow.  All right, Ranko?"
	"Yes, sensei," Ranko replied, head bowed.  "I'm sorry."
	Miz offered her student a warm smile as she patted her on 
the shoulder.  "Apology accepted.  Now let's get to those trials!"
	"Wait!" Afrua Mann interrupted a bit nervously.  "If the girl 
vanished, then she must have been an illusion.  That must mean 
that there's a member of the Phantom Tribe here on Mt. Muldoon, 
one who tried to kill Ranko."
	"No, there can't be," Miz protested.
	"The facts speak for themselves," Shayla-Shayla added.  
"The trials will just have to be put off until the intruder can be 
found and caught."
	"But Ranko is ready now," Miz argued.  "We can hold the 
trials quickly and then look for this Phantom Tribe person.  If we 
close off the mountain in the meantime, it won't make any 
difference."
	"And what other sorts of mischief will this person cause in 
the meantime?" Shayla-Shayla pushed.  "We don't even have the 
time to talk about it, we have to find this person now."
	"I agree with Shayla," Afrua Mann told the high water 
priestess.  "Sorry Miz, but you're out-voted.  I'll start making 
arrangements now."
	Afrua Mann flew off before Miz could argue with her 
further.
	"Don't worry, sensei," Ranko told her.  "This will only take 
a day or so.  I'll still pass those tests.  I promise I will."
	Miz smiled suddenly.  "Thank you, Ranko."

	Houri nearly bit her lip to stop herself from yelling out in 
frustration.  She could not believe that she had been keeping her 
secret for over ten years, and now was going to be discovered over 
something as foolish as this.  But then how was she to know that 
Miz's student could fly?  The redhead had no connection to any of 
the priestesses of Wind.  She should have fallen to her death.  And 
it was already too late to silence her.
	Houri still wished to stop Miz's marriage by any means 
possible, but right now her safety was a bigger concern.  She 
needed to leave Mt. Muldoon and fast.  Perhaps she could ambush 
them on their way to Rostaria?

	"Houri!"
	The priestess in question spun around in surprise.  She was 
practically out the door and knew she only had moments before the 
entire mountain would be sealed off, with even Wind priestesses 
watching the skies.  And it had to be Miz, of all people, to catch 
her.
	"Are you leaving?" Miz asked with a bit of surprise.
	"Yes," Houri explained quickly.  "My duties require me to 
be elsewhere, so I have to be going now."
	Miz glanced around and whispered so no one could 
overhear them.  "There is a matter of utmost importance that I wish 
to speak to you about."
	"Can't it wait until I return?  I shouldn't be gone for more 
than a week."
	"I'm afraid not.  Houri, as a water priestess and one of my 
oldest friends, I need you help."
	Houri sighed and gave up her plan of escape.  She knew 
that there was no chance Miz would let her leave now.  "All right, 
want do you want of me?"
	Miz looked around again, seeming even more nervous.  
"Well, it seems that one of our fellow priestesses is in actuality a 
member of the Phantom Tribe."
	Houri made sure to appear suitably shocked.  "You must be 
joking."
	Miz shook her head.  "This villain has already tried to kill 
my student.  Who knows what else damage she could do if she isn't 
caught immediately?"
	"True, but what do you wish me to do about it?"
	Houri had to control her reaction when Miz suddenly put 
her hand on her shoulder.  "Houri, right now you are one of the few 
people here that I can trust.  We've known each other since even 
before we became water priestesses, but most of the others here I 
don't know as well.  This Phantom Tribe person could be any one 
of them.  I need you to help me find the culprit."
	Houri shrugged.  "All right, I'll see what I can do."
	"I knew I could count on you."

	They searched through mid-day and long into the night, and 
while some priestesses were suspected and questioned, by the time 
everyone was ready to drop from exhaustion, no suspects 
remained.  Miz, Shayla-Shayla, and Afrua Mann had gathered 
together to discuss the fruits of their search just before heading off 
to bed.  Most other priestesses were already asleep.
	"I say that she left as soon as she had finished pulling that 
trick on Ranko so she wouldn't get caught," Shayla-Shayla 
theorized.  "It's what I would have done."
	Afrua Mann shook her head.  "There was no way for her to 
know her plan had failed then.  Leaving abruptly would have only 
blown her cover.  Besides, I spoke to the guards at the gate.  No 
one left between the time Ranko went to bathe and we ordered the 
gates closed."
	"Then she escaped some other route when it was obvious 
her plan had been discovered."
	"No, I say that she's still here," Afrua Mann said, and then 
turned to face the high water priestess.  "What do you say, Miz?  
You've been quite all night."
	Miz blinked suddenly and replied, "Oh, I agree with Shayla.  
If this Phantom Tribe person was still here, why hasn't she tried to 
cause more damage?  Considering the small amount of chaos this 
whole incident raised, she could have done something else and 
gotten away with it, but nothing happened."
	"Members of the Phantom Tribe are very determined.  She 
wouldn't just leave here unless Ranko was dead, if that is her goal."

	The next morning was truly beautiful.  The sun shown 
down from a sky of deep blue, filled with white, fluffy clouds, only 
to land directly on Ranko's face.  She groaned and tried to bury her 
head deeper into her pillow, but gentle hands shook her shoulders.
	"Time to wake up, Ranko," Miz spoke softly to her.  "I 
want us to have an early breakfast with the other high priestesses.  I 
think I can convince them to hold the trials right away.  If 
everything goes well, we can leave for Rostaria this afternoon.  
Then we can meet those people from another world, just like you 
wanted to."
	Ranko grumbled something unintelligible and pulled the 
blanket over her head.
	Miz frowned.  She knew her student had some difficulty 
getting up in the morning, but this was beginning to get ridiculous.  
Besides, she was confident that Ranko could pass the trials now, 
but was less sure about it the more time passed.  Better to get them 
over and done with, so she could move on to training her as an 
apprentice.
	So Miz pulled the blankets out of her student's grasp and 
shouted, "Wake up, Ranko!!"
	Ranko sprang out of bed and clung to the ceiling, glancing 
around as if she expected an attack to come from any direction.  
Her eyes finally settled on Miz who was looking up at her, arms 
crossed, tapping her foot in impatience.
	Ranko let go and was only mildly surprised when she 
floated down slowly back to the bed.  She rubbed her eyes a bit and 
said, "Um, yeah, Miz?"
	Miz smiled then, realizing that there were just some habits 
she'd never be able to break her student out of.  "Take your bath 
quickly and join myself and the other high priestesses in our dining 
room.  Hopefully, we can get the trials done today."
	Ranko nodded and got ready for her bath, not having the 
energy to argue with her sensei, if she had the inclination.

	Over breakfast, Shayla-Shayla had become indifferent to 
the possible presence of a member of the Phantom Tribe among 
them, no longer bothering to argue if this person was still on Mt. 
Muldoon or not.  Afrua Mann, however, was still obstinate that 
their near-murderer was not only still among them, but had to be 
caught before she could do more damage.  And also nothing, 
including the trials, could be done until she was caught.
	Miz had thought she would be this way, however, and had 
already come up with a counter argument.  "You said before that 
you believed my student Ranko to be the target of this... assassin?" 
she asked casually as she daintily poked at her breakfast.
	Afrua Mann nodded as she took a bite of her own meal.  "I 
think that much is obvious.  If this person wanted to cause chaos or 
even death on a larger scale, she still could have done it.  Instead, 
she chose to target Ranko specifically."
	"That's horrible!" Miz nearly shouted.  "But why would 
they target her of all people?  I would think that one of the three of 
us would be much more likely."
	"It's hard to tell.  I could be the fact that she's being trained 
as the next high water priestess, or it could be that she's from 
another world.  It's hard to guess the motives of the Phantom 
Tribe."
	"Who cares why?" Shayla-Shayla added in as she wolfed 
down her own food.
	"Still, that does mean that my student is still in a 
considerable degree of danger," Miz pointed out.  "She won't be so 
easily fooled the next time, but it would certainly be better if she 
had some way of defending herself."
	"What are you getting at, Miz?" Afrua Mann asked with 
growing suspicion.
	"Don't you see?  We need to hold the trials right now so 
Ranko can have the powers of a water priestess to defend herself 
with."
	Afrua Mann and Miz argued about it for a while more, but 
by the time that Ranko had joined them, the matter had already 
been settled.  The trials would be held immediately.

	Houri couldn't help snickering a bit at the fact that Miz had 
put her in charge of the investigation to uncover the Phantom Tribe 
agent, while the high priestesses administered the three trials to 
Ranko.  She should have been angry at being too busy to interfere 
with those tests which would put her rival one step closer to her 
goal.  But then again, there were still several steps to go.  Miz 
could still stumble along the way, with a little help.
	Besides, there was really nothing Houri could do at this 
point.  Most of her illusions were rendered ineffective by the 
shrine's inherent magic, as she had found much to her dismay 
during her own trials years ago.  She was thankful that the illusion 
of her appearance hadn't been effected.  Surrounded by three high 
priestesses was the last place he wanted to be found out.
	Having planned out a few escape routes out of Mt. 
Muldoon in case she ever had need of them, it would child's play 
for here to leave evidence that this enemy agent had already 
escaped.  In fact, following this phantom member of the Phantom 
Tribe would give her just the excuse she needed to be away from 
her duties, so she could stop Miz from tying the knot.

	Ranko looked around in something akin to wonder at the 
large cave that the high priestesses had taken her to.  The ceiling 
had to be at least three stories up, where a large hole the size of the 
Tendo home letting sunshine in.  The entire Tendo compound 
could have fit in that cave with room to spare, but it would have 
been a little damp since most of the cave was taken up by the large 
pool of water, though it was more like a small lake, with a tiny 
island at it's center.
	"This is the holy water shrine of ascension," Miz instructed.  
"Only high priestesses and those seeking to become high 
priestesses are allowed to enter."
	Ranko bent down to stare at the crystal clear water, 
glittering like diamonds where the sunlight struck it's surface.  The 
water looked to be shallow, though she could see fish swimming 
lazily about, among the plants that swayed in the slow undertone of 
the pool.  As she stood and looked around again, she noted the 
well-fed moss that clung to the walls of the cave.  What at first 
glance looked dead was actually teeming with life.
	"Ranko," Miz said so seriously that it immediately grabbed 
the redhead's attention.  "It is time for your trials to begin."
	Miz kissed the ring that she wore, and blinked when 
nothing happened.  She smiled nervously when she realized the 
ring she had kissed was actually her engagement ring, "Sorry, 
wrong ring.  Though it is beautiful enough to kiss, isn't it?"
	The other high priestesses groaned, sick of hearing about 
the stupid engagement ring already.  "If she goes on about how it 
shines in the sunlight again, I'll strangle her," Shayla-Shayla 
muttered.
	Miz was too eager to get the trials done with to spend time 
in contemplation of her upcoming nuptials at the moment.  So she 
kissed her lamp of water this time and there was a sudden 
explosion of water that swirled around her, vanishing as quickly as 
it had appeared.  Miz calmly picked up the surprised Ranko by the 
waist and ran across the water to the small island in the center, not 
even getting her feet wet.  Afrua Mann activated her lamp of air 
and followed, carrying Shayla-Shayla with her.
	Ranko blinked and looked around once Miz had set her feet 
down on the small island.  She had no idea her sensei was strong 
enough to carry her like that.  Maybe it was another effect of the 
magic?
	The island was tiny, with barely enough room for the three 
of them to move around.  This was mainly due to the large fountain 
that dominated the small area.  It was carved all of white marble, 
sculpted to resemble flowing water, so that the actual water that 
sprang forth from it seemed like a natural extension of itself.
	"I, Miz, 179th High Water Priestess of Mt. Muldoon do 
hereby swear to have trained Ranko to be my successor to the best 
of my ability.  Let her be tested to prove her worth," Miz intoned 
formally.
	"I, Afrua Mann, 180th High Wind Priestess, shall 
administer the first trial."
	Ranko mentally readied herself for anything.  Miz had 
trained her hard, but she had never specifically told her what the 
trials would be.
	The last thing he expected was for Afrua Mann to 
purposefully fall into the lake.  "I can't swim.  Save me," she said 
just before vanishing beneath the surface.
	Once she had recovered from her shock, Ranko dove in 
after her.
	Ranko was startled by the contrast once her head was under 
the water, how gloomy and dark it had suddenly become, day 
turning to night in an instant.  The fish could only be made out as 
vague blurs and the bottom below was lost in the darkness.  She 
was also surprised at how deep it was.  It reminded her of her swim 
from coming back from China.
	Ranko looked around frantically for the high priestess as 
she forced her way through the icy water, too focused to even 
notice the cold anymore.  There, a flash of something, metal 
catching the light.  Ranko dove towards it's source.
	She found Afrua Mann lying serenely at the bottom of this 
pool, plants thickly surrounding her.  Her eyes were closed and her 
face slack as if sleeping.  Ranko began to wonder just what the 
heck was going on, then quickly banished those thoughts.  There 
wasn't time.  She was already running out of air.
	Ranko tried to pull Afrua Mann up, but met unexpected 
resistance.  She frantically looked around, only to find that the high 
priestesses legs were tangled up in some thick, ropy-looking plant.  
Ranko bent down and tried to rip them away, but it was 
impossible.  The plant was just too tough and slippery underwater, 
it slid right out of her grasp.
	While Ranko struggled for a solution to this, she realized 
with horror that somehow her own legs had been tangled by the 
same kind of plant.  What was worse, her own air supply was now 
almost gone, and knew that Afrua Mann had to be even worse off 
than she was.
	There was no time to even think of what to do, Ranko fell 
back on instinct.  Her fingers were nimble enough to untangle the 
plant around Afrua Man strand by strand.  And with the last of her 
strength, she pushed the high priestess towards the surface.  Last of 
her air gone, she began to black out.
	Ranko opened her eyes in surprise to find herself lying on 
damp sand.  *Am I back on the island?* she thought as she blinked 
and looked around.  She was still underwater, but somehow the 
water was being kept at bay a few feet all around her.  The reason 
was sitting on a rock next to her as she waited for the redhead to 
regain consciousness.
	Afrua Mann smiled and offered Ranko her hand, "Here, let 
me take you back to the surface."
	Ranko nodded a bit, still uncertain what was going on, but 
still took the offered hand.
	Afrua Mann stood and suddenly the air bubble they were in 
began floating up to the surface, carrying them along with it.  It 
emerged from the pool and floated over the island, where it 
disappeared with a sudden pop.  Ranko knelt down and took a deep 
breath, savoring the moment of serenity after what she had been 
though.
	"Ranko has passed the first trial," Afrua Mann declared.
	Miz, however, was less than pleased.  "What was the 
meaning of that, Afrua?!" she shouted.
	Afrua's cool expression didn't waver in the least.  "The 
actual substance of the first two trials are always left up to the high 
priestesses.  You know that, Miz."
	"Yes, but I didn't expect you to try something so... so 
dangerous.  Ranko could have been killed!"
	"I had complete control over the situation the entire time.  
Neither of us was really in any danger, but I had to make her think 
we were for the trial to be successful.  I was supposed to test if 
Ranko acted like a true high priestess.  I think that saving 
someone's life at the expense of her own proves that."
	Miz fumed, but she couldn't come up with a counter 
argument.
	Ranko stood, feeling all right now, except for being soaked 
to the bone at the moment.  "I'm okay, sensei.  I want to go on to 
the next trial."
	Miz nodded, but the look she gave Shayla-Shayla made it 
clear that she wouldn't tolerate another trial like the first.  Shayla 
felt a bit intimidated by that glare, the high water priestess could be 
downright dangerous when she wanted to be.
	"Here, let me dry you off first," Shayla-Shayla offered as 
she activated her own lamp.  "Don't move."
	Ranko watched with her eyes wide as flames suddenly 
swirled around her, yet never close enough to touch.  The heat 
from them, however, was intense enough to dry her clothes and get 
her to break out in a sweat at the same time.
	"Thanks," Ranko said once it was over, though it was not 
any experience she wanted to go through again if she could help it.
	Shayla-Shayla grinned, and then spoke formally,  "I, 
Shayla-Shayla, 180th High Fire Priestess, shall administer the 
second trial.  I will ask you three questions.  You must get at least 
two of them right in order to pass."
	Ranko nodded, and tried to remember all of the rules in the 
priestess handbook at once, only to make her head hurt.  She 
decided to take whatever questions she was given and then think 
about them then.
	"All right.  First question:  If you come across innocent 
travelers being attacked by the Bugrom, what do you do?"
	Ranko blinked at the question.  She mentally browsed 
through all the rules and procedures she could remember, but came 
up blank, so she went with the most logical.  "Uh, rescue the 
travelers and defeat the Bugrom?"
	"Correct!" Shayla-Shayla said immediately.  "Next 
question:  You spot a legion of Bugrom racing towards a nearby 
city.  What do you do?"
	Ranko was about to answer 'stop them,' and then stopped 
herself.  She had no real idea of how powerful she would be as a 
priestess, Miz had said something about that depending on how 
aligned she was to the magic, so had no idea if she could take on 
such a force alone.  Not to mention she didn't have an idea how 
tough the average Bugrom was to begin with.  Maybe she should 
try to get help, but then again the invasion could reach the city 
before she could get help.  Hmm...
	"Attempt to stop them while trying to signal for 
reinforcements," she said tentatively.
	"Close enough," Shayla-Shayla replied with a shrug of her 
shoulders.  "You shouldn't waste time on signaling for help as it's 
unlikely anyone would see it.  Instead, concentrate that energy on 
reducing the Bugrom force as much as you can.  A reduced force 
will either retreat or be easy for the city's defenders to handle.
	"I guess I won't need to think up a third question then.  
Ranko has passed the second trial."
	"Shayla, why did you ask her such easy questions?" Afrua 
Mann demanded.
	Shayla-Shayla grinned.  "Well, since your trial was so 
difficult, I though I'd compensate by making mine easier.  Besides, 
us redheads have got to stick together.  Right, Ranko?"
	"Right!" Ranko replied immediately, not wanting to upset 
the high priestess and risk blowing the trials.  Besides, being stuck 
on a strange world like this, Ranko needed all the friends she could 
get.
	"As your mentor," Miz spoke to Ranko in formal tones.  "It 
is my duty to administer the third and final trial."  Miz took a small 
wooden box out of her pocket and handed it to Ranko.
	The redhead looked down at what she now held with some 
surprise.  "So is there something in this box that's going to attack 
me when I open it or something?"
	The three high priestesses chuckled at that.  "Just open the 
box, Ranko," Miz told her.  "It's perfectly safe, for now."
	Even still, Ranko slowly opened the box, ready for the first 
sign of danger, only to find that it contained a ring which looked 
much like Miz's lamp of Water.
	"This is the lamp of a water high priestess in training," Miz 
explained.  "It is the same ring I wore while I was training under 
the previous high priestess.  Please put it on, Ranko."
	Ranko carefully took the ring from its resting place and 
slipped it on her finger.  The instant she let go, she felt a sudden 
jolt, like a shock from static electricity.  She held her hand up to 
study the ring, noting that it looked perfectly ordinary.  Not 
something she's suspect of holding so much power.
	"Activate the ring now.  I've already shown you how."
	With a nod to her sensei, Ranko held the ring to her lips, 
and fearing another shock, quickly kissed it.  Her eyes went wide 
as water suddenly surged around her, twirling through the air like 
giant ribbons.  But the bigger surprise was the sudden surge of 
power she felt flowing from the ring and into her body.  And with 
that power somehow came the knowledge of how to use it.
	Ranko looked up at Miz, her eyes filled with wonder.  The 
high priestess smiled, remembering when she had experienced the 
power for the first time.
	"So is this the final trial?" Ranko asked.  "Am I an 
apprentice now?"
	Miz's smile vanished.  "No, the final trial has only begun."  
Miz gestured to the fountain, her lamp sparkling with an inner 
light, and then suddenly the fountain exploded upward, the gushing 
water beginning to take on a monstrous, vaguely human form.
	"This is the water golem that guards this shrine," Miz 
explained.  "I have used my power to wake it up.  Now you must 
use yours to defeat it before it defeats you.  You can use any 
methods you wish, but only the power of the lamp of water can 
harm it.  If you leave this cave for whatever reason without 
defeating the golem first, you are considered to have forfeited.  Do 
you understand, Ranko?"
	Ranko nodded slowly, still looking up at the golem which 
towered above her.  Her final battle with Herb had been at the limit 
of her abilities, and she now faced and an opponent that was clearly 
in another class altogether.  But she had come back too far to back 
down now.
	Miz nodded as well, and then turned her gaze up to the 
creature.  Gesturing to Ranko, she instructed, "Golem, destroy her."

	Ranko didn't waste time waiting for it to make the first 
move.  She commanded the new power she possessed and struck 
the golem with a stream of water drawn from the lake.  Almost too 
quick for her eyes to follow, the golem dodged the blast.  And so 
Ranko was unprepared when something hard struck her in the side, 
knocking her into the lake.
	*So much for an easy victory,* Ranko thought as she swam 
to the surface.  When she looked around, she was surprised to find 
she was now alone in the cave.  There was no sign of the water 
golem or the high priestesses.
	"Wha--" was all she was able to say before something 
wrapped around her legs and pulled her back down into the lake.
	She looked down to see nothing at first, but then the 
movement of the water she could make out the vague shape of the 
golem, it's arms having changed to that of many tentacles which 
currently had an iron grip on her legs.  For this creature, the water 
was almost perfect camouflage.
	Ranko struggled futilely to escape.  The water was ice cold, 
but her blood was boiling so she could hardly feel it.  Then she 
blinked.  Miz had said only the water power could hurt this thing, 
but the high priestess didn't know half of the things her student was 
capable of.
	"Hiyu Shoten Ha!!" Ranko shouted, her mouth full of 
water. A second later, the lake exploded, launching her almost out 
of the cave entirely.  She floated above, watching as the lake 
settled down once again, expecting an attack any second.  She 
knew that while the dragon's blast had been enough to shake the 
golem's grip, she doubted that it had also seriously wounded it.

	"What was that?" Shayla-Shayla asked Miz.  They were 
currently sitting on the top of the cave, looking down at the battle 
below them though the large hole that let the sunlight in.
	"Don't look at me, Shayla," Miz replied.  "I certainly didn't 
teach her it.  It looked more like one of Afrua's air attacks."
	"True, and considering that he could do that along with the 
ability to fly, perhaps she is better suited to be a wind priestess," 
Afrua Mann said.
	"No, she has a burning spirit.  She should be a fire 
priestess."
	Miz looked at her fellow high priestesses in horror.  "Don't 
even joke about such things."

	After a minute passed and the golem didn't make an 
appearance, Ranko began to wonder what was going on.  She was 
almost positive now that she hadn't done any serious damage, so 
why wasn't it coming after her?  Glancing around to see how high 
up she was, Ranko thought she had the answer.  The water golem 
probably had to stay connected to the lake in some way and as such 
simply couldn't reach far enough into the air to get her now.  It was 
probably lying in wait in the lake, waiting for her to come closer so 
she could strike.
	"Still, I have to beat it so I better--"  Suddenly, a surge of 
water sprang from one of the cave walls she had floated close to 
and struck her like a knee to the back.  Ranko went tumbling again, 
but was able to resume floating only a foot away from falling into 
the lake again.  Before she could even think, she had to dodge out 
of the way of watery hands that reached up for her.
	Ranko gained altitude and frantically looked around for the 
direction of the next attack.  Her back still hurt from where the 
golem had hit her, and she was feeling a bit panicked having never 
faced an opponent like this one before.  She wanted to strike back 
with her newly acquired water powers, but had to be able to see the 
golem before she could hit it.  She had a feeling that striking 
blindly at the lake would do no good.
	This time Ranko saw it, a silvery trail of water that flowed 
up the walls of the cavern, hiding itself among the well-fed moss.  
This came a bit to late since the next second the golem tried to 
strike again.
	"Katsu Tenchin Amaguriken!" Seeing the column of water 
rushing towards her, Ranko fell back on her training.  Her fists 
were a blur as she struck back at the golem, neutralizing its attack, 
though the force was enough to push her half-way across the cave.
	Another short period of silence followed, when nothing 
could be heard to Ranko but the gently lapping waves as the lake 
settled once more, and her own labored breathing.

	"Is the water golem always this tough?" Shayla-Shayla 
asked.  "My own fight with the fire golem was easier than this."
	"Shayla, don't you know anything?" Afrua Mann chided 
her.  "The golems adapt themselves to the skill of their opponents.  
The water golem isn't giving any more than Ranko herself could 
dish out.  Though considered how hard the golem is hitting, she 
must be some fighter."
	Miz was too surprised by what she was seeing to comment.

	Ranko had been mostly on the defensive so far, which she 
didn't like at all.  Her pop had always explained that this was a 
position of weakness.  Besides, it wasn't her style at all.  What she 
needed was a plan of attack would put the golem on the defensive.  
But what?  How could she fight what she could hardly see?
	Seeing another water trail climbing up to her, Ranko 
followed it with her eyes to it's source.  Reasoning that the main 
body of the golem should be in that part of the lake, she kicked off 
from the walls of the cave, and propelled herself towards that spot, 
her form like an olympic diver.
	After she cut through the surface of the lake, it only took a 
second for her eyes to adjust enough to make out the golem, but 
even while doing that she had been preparing her attack, not letting 
any moment be wasted.  Calling upon all the power she could from 
the lamp of water, she struck the creature with a blast that ended up 
knocking most of it out of the lake entirely.
	Ranko sprang out of the lake herself with a grin.  She was 
positive that that attack at least had hurt it.  It was now by the side 
of the lake, it's vaguely human form looking like someone was 
dipping their feet in, though it was easily twice the size of anyone 
Ranko had ever met.  The featureless head turned to face her, 
giving Ranko the feeling that she was being studied intently though 
the golem had no eyes.
	Ranko called upon the water power again, this time in the 
form of a whip, which she sent out towards the golem, planning to 
use a move she had picked up from Kodachi and smack the 
creature into one of the cave walls.
	Too slow, however, as the golem managed to dodge out of 
the way, though Ranko noticed, not with the super human speed it 
had dodged her first attack.  It was back on the lake now, but it 
stood on it instead of sinking back into it's surface.  Ranko fired 
another water blast at it, but it simply bent its body in such a way 
no human could hope to emulate.  Ranko chided herself for 
forgetting it's shape-changing abilities.
	"Moko Takabisha!"  She attacked again, aiming this time at 
the lake right below the golem's feet.  When the creature dodged to 
the right, Ranko was ready for it.  A water whip snaked out of her 
ring and wrapped around the golem, flinging it hard into the cavern 
wall.  It struck with a wet, meaty sound, and then fell with a thud to 
the ground when the whip vanished.
	Ranko stared at the golem cautiously, expecting it to launch 
a counter attack.  It looked beaten, lying there on the shore 
unmoving, but she knew already that this was a tricky creature.  
She struck it with another water blast just to be on the safe side.
	When the water from the blast subsided, however, the 
golem had vanished.  Ranko's surprise dropped her defenses just 
enough to be unable to avoid the sudden waterspout that rose up 
and pulled her back down into the lake.
	The water golem wasn't just tugging at her legs this time.  It 
was all around her in the lake now, squeezing in a grip Ranko 
struggled to break out of.  Hands, legs, and head all immobile, she 
couldn't even manage one of her martial arts attacks, and she 
couldn't achieve the mental focus it took to use one of her new 
water attacks at the moment.
	The golem continued to drag her down into the deepest and 
darkest part of the lake.

	"Has the golem gone crazy?  It should have surrendered by 
now," Miz said, her voice nearly panicked.  "I'm going down there 
and putting a stop to this right now."
	Afrua Mann's grip on her arm stopped her.  "If any of us 
interfere with the trial for any reason, Ranko will fail.  Those are 
the holy laws which even we cannot break."
	"I know, but Ranko..."
	"Have faith in your student, Miz."
	"But..."
	"Ranko can do this," Shayla-Shayla added.  "Us redheads 
are tougher than most.  We never give in easily."
	Miz sat back down, though she still looked uncertain.

	Ranko stopped struggling, knowing it was useless.  Instead 
so put all her resources into trying to use the water magic again.  
Miz had told her that it was only this magic that could hurt this 
thing, and the redhead had seen that was true first-hand.  It had 
shrugged off hits that would have taken down some of her toughest 
opponents.
	Only the magic, but how to use it?  The magic was raw 
power, waiting to be shaped by Ranko's will.  The form it took was 
all up to her.  She had already shaped it into blasts and whips, both 
of which were useless to her at the moment.  She couldn't think of 
how to direct a blast as she was now, and a whip would end up 
squeezing her as well.
	She was nearly at the bottom of the lake now, just like she 
had been when 'saving' Afrua Mann.  She remembering waking up 
in a bubble of air, the water being kept at bay by the high wind 
priestess's magic.  Maybe there was some way to do that with water 
magic...
	Ranko drew on as much power as she could and reached 
out past the golem to the water that was all around them.  She tried 
forcing the water back, but it was no good.  She didn't have enough 
power.  Then she thought of her dragon blast, the spiral steps 
which she no longer needed to perform, though the purpose of 
those steps was still clear to her.
	The water around the golem began to churn counter-
clockwise, faster and faster, until suddenly a whirlpool had opened 
up.  Ranko gasped in the sudden influx of air, not noticing at first 
when the golem had released her.  It made no move to attack 
though, instead staring at the wall of swirling water that 
surrounded them on all sides.  Ranko couldn't help staring herself.
	She snapped out of it and tried to shoot off a final blast at 
the golem, sure that it was nearly defeated now.  She blinked in 
surprise when nothing happened, and then realized that all her 
power was currently tied up in maintaining the whirlpool.  And if 
she drew away some power from it, those walls of water would 
come crashing down on her.
	Ranko quickly took in the air again, pushing herself to fly 
as fast as she could out of the lake's reach.  Once she had cleared 
the water, she let go of the whirlpool.  Just before it could collapse, 
she drew all the power she could and fired it in on concentrated 
blast at the golem just before it was lost from sight.  She was 
unable to see if the blast hit at the waves crashed in with the sound 
of thunder.
	Ranko landed on the small island, gasping in near-
exhaustion.  That had just been the hardest fight she had ever 
experienced.  Nothing, not even Herb, compared to it.  She just 
hoped that she had finally won, because she didn't have the 
strength to move a single droplet of water at the moment.
	When a giant spout of water suddenly sprung into the air 
right next to her, Ranko tried to stand, but the best she could 
manage was to sit up.  Not matter what her condition, she still 
wasn't willing to give up.  So it was with great relief that she saw 
the three priestesses standing on the column of water as it lowered 
itself to the lake again.
	Miz was immediately at Ranko's side, helping her up and 
checking for injuries, all the while muttering apologies.  Ranko 
smiled for her and said, "That was no big deal.  I've faced 
opponents much tougher than that water golem."  It was a lie, 
partly out of bravado, and partly to reassure her sensei.
	"The golem isn't usually that rough," Miz explained.  "But 
since you're not seriously injured, I suppose that it was all right in 
the end.  Because, Ranko, you have passed the final test.  You are 
now apprentice high water priestess."
	"Good," Ranko replied with a smile, just before slipping 
into unconsciousness.

	Ranko yawned and squinted her eyes from the bright 
sunlight that streamed through her window.  She sat up, only to 
notice then that Miz sat in the room with her, obviously waiting by 
her beside for her to wake up.
	"Geez, that fight must have take more out of me than I 
realized," Ranko commented as she got used to the bright light.  
"How many hours was I out for?"
	"Hours?" Miz repeated with a small smile and a giggle.  
"You've been sleeping for nearly an entire day now."
	"No wonder I'm so hungry," Ranko told her as her stomach 
rumbled.
	"Well, I'll make a deal with you.  If you hurry with your 
bath and pack up all your things, I'll make as much food as you can 
eat."
	"That's a lot of food," Ranko pointed out.
	"I know," Miz replied with a grin as she moved to leave the 
room.  "I've seen you eat before."
	Ranko hurried with her bath, only needing a few minutes 
with the speed she could managed.  She felt filled with a new 
energy, not having missed the ring that still adorned her finger.  
She was apprentice high water priestess now, with all the power 
and responsibility that that entailed.  Besides, packing could mean 
only one thing.  They were going to Rostaria, where Ranko could 
finally meet the travelers from another world and perhaps get some 
answers on how she had ended up there in the first place.
	Packing was nearly as quick as the bath.  Most of the things 
she had had been given to her by Miz, and there wasn't a lot of 
those.  A few changes of clothes, Ranko was currently wearing the 
red shirt and black pants she had originally appeared there with, 
bathing and grooming supplies, and some Rostarian money in case 
of emergencies.
	Despite the short time she had to cook, Miz was good to her 
word and provided plate upon plate of food, which Ranko gobbled 
down without a pause even to breathe.  Miz didn't mind at all, 
practicing her cooking was something she wanted to do anyway for 
her impending marriage.
	"I've already reserved one of our flyers to take us to 
Rostaria," Miz told her apprentice as she began to slow down.  
"We should reach the palace in an hour or so."
	"Um, there's no rush," Ranko said quickly, remembering 
what Afrua Mann had told her during her flying lesson.  "I thought 
we were going to see these people from another world first."
	"Ah, conveniently they all live either in or around the 
palace."
	Ranko frantically tried to think of any delaying tactic.  
From what Afrua Mann had told her, it would still be several days 
before everything would be ready at the palace, which meant Miz 
had to be kept away from it until then at all costs.
	"I thought you were going to train me in the use of water 
magic first," Ranko pointed out.
	"No, no," Miz corrected.  "We made a deal that once you 
had passed the trials, I would take you to meet the people from the 
other world.  Now that you have passed, it's time for me to keep 
my side of the bargain.  Your training can wait until after."
	Miz already had everything planned in her head.  Now that 
she had an apprentice, there would be no more objections to her 
marriage.  She would go to the palace and introduce Ranko to 
everyone while making arrangements for her wedding.  Then she 
would marry, train Ranko and have her made high water priestess, 
and then finally Miz and her new husband would depart on their 
honeymoon.  It would be simple as that.
	It was a great relief to Ranko when Afrua Mann and 
Shayla-Shayla came striding into the room.
	"I've heard about your preparations," the high wind 
priestess told Miz.  "And I'm afraid that I have some bad news."
	Miz blinked, staring up at them.  "What?"
	"Orders have just come from the palace.  Rune is worried 
about rumors of a build up of Bugrom forces and wants you and I 
to investigate."
	"But why can't you just take Shayla instead?"
	"Shayla has been ordered to report to the palace for another 
assignment.  Besides, we both know how good she is at stealth 
missions."
	"Hey!" Shayla-Shayla shouted at Afrua Mann.  "What do 
you mean by that?!"
	Afrua's expression didn't even flicker.  "You just proved my 
point."
	Miz wrung her hands.  She couldn't just ignore a direct 
order from the princess, but still.  "But I promised that I would take 
Ranko to meet our friends from the other world, and Dr. 
Schtalubaugh."
	"Well, I can handle that," Shayla-Shayla told her.  "I've got 
to go to the palace anyway.  Besides, since we'll be working 
together soon, I should spend some time getting to know the future 
high water priestess anyway."
	Seeing Miz still struggling, Afrua Mann laid a hand on her 
shoulder and said, "It'll only be for a few days, and we have to go 
directly to the palace to make our report afterward.  We'll be back 
before you know it."
	"I suppose you're right," Miz said as she stood and then 
turned to face the fire priestess.  "Shayla, take good care of my 
apprentice while I'm gone.  Don't draw her into any of your fights, 
either.  She's not a brawler like you are."
	Shayla-Shayla was tempted to get Miz back for that remark, 
but instead smiled and nodded.  Things were going to well to risk 
them now.  Besides, after seeing her fight with the water golem, 
Shayla-Shayla was beginning to think Ranko was more of a fighter 
than she was.
	"And Ranko.  Take care of yourself too, okay?"
	Ranko smiled.  "I will, sensei."

	When Miz and Afrua Mann had finally left, Ranko breathed 
a sigh of relief, echoed by the high fire priestess who stood next to 
her.
	"How did you come up with all that on short notice?" she 
asked.
	Shayla-Shayla grinned.  "We didn't.  As soon as you had 
passed your trials, we sent word to Rune.  She's the one who came 
up with this, though I'm not sure if it's just a scheme.  I've heard the 
same rumors about the Bugrom too."
	"Miz won't be any danger, will she?"
	"You've experienced first-hand how powerful water magic 
is, and Miz has been using it for a long time know.  She can draw 
on a lot more power than you could.  She'll be fine."
	"Okay," Ranko said, feeling relieved.  "So when do we 
leave?"
	"Now, the flyer Miz reserved is waiting for us."

	At the same moment, Houri was tampering with the flyer in 
question, her powers of illusion making her invisible to those that 
walked around the landing pad.  The small flyer was mostly 
automatic so that someone like Miz who had limited experience 
with them could fly it herself.  But this also meant that they were 
easier to tamper with.
	Houri rigged the flyer to dump its passengers in the middle 
of nowhere.  That would give the priestess all the time she needed 
to reach Rostaria first and find more permanent means of stopping 
Miz from getting married.

	"There, everything is all set," Shayla-Shayla told Ranko as 
she turned away from the controls.  "Just sit back and relax.  We'll 
be at the palace in an hour."
	"What?  That's it?" Ranko asked in surprise.  She had only 
seen the high fire priestess push a few buttons.  "Don't you have to 
stay at the controls to pilot this thing?"
	"Nope, it's all automatic.  In fact, we've already left Mt. 
Muldoon."
	Ranko looked over the edge and blinked in surprise to see 
her home for the past two weeks was no little more than a spec in 
the distance.  "I can't believe this thing moves this fast.  It barely 
feels like we're moving."
	Shayla-Shayla sat down and made herself comfortable, 
leaning back with her hands behind her head.  "Forget about the 
flyer.  Tell me something about yourself."
	"Huh? Wha?" Ranko stuttered out, caught off-guard by the 
question.
	"Well, I imagine Miz will be pushing you through your 
training so she can retire, so you'll be working pretty closely with 
Afrua and me soon.  I like to know something about the people I 
work with.  Like how about where all those moves came from that 
you fought the golem with.  I haven't seen anything like that before.  
Don't think it was magic."
	Ranko relaxed immediately.  For some strange reason she 
had thought that this woman had found out about her curse 
somehow.  "No, it's not magic," she began to explain.  "The world 
I'm from has a form of combat called martial arts.  I guess it's like... 
well, I'm not good at describing things.  I've been trained in the 
form Anything Goes Martial Arts since I was old enough to walk.  
My pop even took me on a long training journey all over the place.  
I've mainly been taught to use my hands and feet, well really my 
whole body as a weapon.  I've been trained to use real weapons too, 
but not as much.
	"Anyway, for reasons that are too complicated to explain, 
this old hag named Cologne taught me some techniques.  Those 
were the first two special moves you saw me use on the golem.  
The third one I sort of made up myself, but it was based on a move 
a friend of mine learned."
	"So are you saying that anyone can learn these techniques 
of yours?"
	"Well I guess, but you have to be pretty good at martial arts 
to even attempt them, and they aren't easy to learn either.  Some of 
the things I had to go through to get them... well, I'm glad I don't 
have to learn them over again."
	"Sounds interesting.  Maybe you could teach me some of 
this martial arts stuff when we get to Rostaria.  In exchange, I can 
teach you some things that'll help you draw more power from your 
lamp."
	Ranko smiled.  "I'd like that--"
	Ranko was cut off when the flyer suddenly lurched and 
wobbled, like a small boat hitting a big wave.  "What's going on?" 
she asked, a bit panicked.
	"I don't know," Shayla-Shayla replied, struggling to stand.  
"Something must be wrong with the flyer."
	The high fire priestess was able to make it over to the 
controls, and started working them, but nothing happened.
	"What are you doing?" Ranko asked, now standing next to 
Shayla.
	"Trying to straighten us out, but nothing is working.  I think 
the controls are dead."
	"So how do we fix it?!"
	"We don't," Shayla-Shayla told her seriously, "We crash."

	Ranko stared at the crashed flyer, now half-buried in sand, 
as she waited for the fire priestess to pull whatever was useful from 
the wreck.  She resisted the temptation to glance around them 
again, but she knew that her initial sight wouldn't change, sand as 
far as the eye can see in all directions.
	Shayla finally emerged from the wreck.  Her face was 
smudged with smoke from when she had attacked the controls in 
anger and desperation, but there was now a gleeful smile on her 
face.  She had a bag slung over a shoulder and a sphere-like object 
in one hand, wires dangling from it.
	"What's that?" Ranko asked, wondering what small thing 
could make her companion that cheerful considering their 
situation.
	"Compass," Shayla replied.  "All we have to do is follow 
this and it'll lead us right to Rostaria.  So pick me up and let's go."
	"Pick you up?"
	"I know you can fly somehow.  I saw you when you fought 
the golem.  So we still can fly to Rostaria, just not as comfortably.  
Afrua Mann and I travel this way all the time, so it's not too bad.  
Or would you rather walk?"
	"No, no," Ranko replied quickly.  In all the confusion, she 
had forgotten about her strange ability to fly.  "But I should warn 
you, I can't fly very fast."
	Shayla smirked.  "Beats walking trough the hot sand."

	"Can't you go a little faster?" Shayla asked for the third 
time.
	Ranko resisted the urge to drop the high priestess.  "I'm 
flying as fast as I can now.  I told you I couldn't go very fast."
	Shayla stared at the ground far below them, "Yeah, but I 
think I can walk faster than this."
	"Well, I would be flying faster if I didn't have to carry 
someone."
	That quieted the fire priestess down quickly.

	"Uh, Ranko?  Do you really mean to fly this close to the 
ground?"  Shayla-Shayla asked an hour or so later.
	"How close are we?"
	"Let me put it to you this way, my shoes are getting grass 
stains."
	Ranko looked down just as the last of her flying power gave 
out, sending them both tumbling to the ground.
	"What was that about?" Shayla-Shayla asked with some 
irritation, sitting up and brushing the dirt out of her hair.
	"I don't know," Ranko admitted, sitting up herself and 
looking around.  "My flying power began to get weaker and weaker 
until it just gave out completely.  I've never used it for so long 
before.  Guess there's some sort of time limit or something."
	The fire priestess nodded absently as she looked around.  
Vaguely familiar field, dirt road off in the distance.  She had a 
pretty good idea of where they were.
	"Rostaria isn't too far from where were are now.  We 
should be able to walk the rest of the way."
	"How long?"
	"A few hours.  Should be a village or two along the way 
that we could stop and rest at.  Are you up to it?"
	Ranko nodded.  "Yeah, flying doesn't tire me out at all.  It 
was carrying you that was a strain."
	"Are you remarking about my weight?" Shayla asked in a 
dangerous tone of voice.
	Ranko had managed to learn at least one thing about girls.  
No matter their actual weight, never, ever insinuate that they are 
fat.  That is, if you want to live past the words coming out of your 
mouth.
	"No, no, no," Ranko said defensively, hands before her as if 
to ward off an attack.  "It must be all the things that you were 
carrying."
	"Speaking of that," Shayla said as she opened her pack.  
"We might as well have lunch here."
	Ranko thanked the fire priestess for the food, relieved by 
the change of subject.  She did not want to get her traveling 
companion angry at her for any reason.  Not only was she a 
priestess with more power and experience than her, but she was 
also the only one who knew how to get where they were going.

	Traveling down the road towards Rostaria, they fell into 
talking again.
	"So have you got a guy or something back on your home 
world?" Shayla-Shayla asked suddenly.
	Ranko blinked.  "A guy?" she repeated, not understanding 
the question.
	"You know, a boyfriend.  Someone waiting for you to get 
back."
	Ranko immediately thought about Kuno and shuddered.  
Then she thought of Shampoo, Ukyo, and Akane.  No, stuck as a 
girl, none of them would be waiting.
	"Not really," she replied after a moment of thought, and 
then decided to throw the question back.  "How about you?  You 
seem eager to get to Rostaria.  Someone special for you waiting 
there?"
	Ranko couldn't help noticing her companion's light blush.  
"Well, sort of," Shayla admitted after a few moments.  "I mean the 
guy is completely clueless and obsessed with ancient devices.  He 
wouldn't know what to do with a woman if he had one, but still...  
he's like no other guy I've ever met before.  I wasn't particularly 
nice to him when we first met, all right I was downright mean 
though I had my reasons, but then later he turns around and risks 
his life to save mine.  I mean, he should have been walking into 
certain death, but didn't even hesitate for a second.  It was like 
saving himself didn't even occur to him."
	Ranko smiled, both from the look in the fire priestess's 
eyes, and the thoughts of a person who her words had reminded 
Ranko of.  Akane was like that too, marching right into danger to 
do what was right, heedless of the consequences.  Though she 
sometimes caused more problems than solved that way, so she 
wasn't exactly sure if this was a positive thing or not.